Blue Mountain State
In 2010 Spike TV decided to bring its viewers a smart, social drama focusing on young men and their lives, loves and losses in the hallowed halls of their first university... yeah, it wasn't possible to read that with a straight face.
Blue Mountain State premiered in January of 2010, and was created and executive produced by the makers of The Sarah Silverman Program and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It focuses on three freshmen from three very different backgrounds who find a common bond in having to deal with the Wacky Fratboy Hijinx of BMS: Alex Moran (played by Darin Brooks) is a second-string QB who enjoys all of the perks of being on the football team with less pain and suffering. Craig Shilo (Sam Jones III) is a phenomenal RB with an over-controlling girlfriend who hopes to ride him to wealth and fame. Sammy Cacciatore (Chris Romano, a.k.a. "Romanski") is Alex's roommate who cons his way into the team's mascot position in hopes of scoring with the cheerleaders.
Together, they find themselves enjoying the constant boozing, partying and sexing while dealing with other staples of college life. Staples like a transgendered prostitute, a pocket pussy, drugs, strip clubs, studying for midterms and more. If you're looking for a big-honkin' caricature of college life, this might be the show.
Season Two introduces some more named characters into the cast, like Radon Randell, the freshman QB from Detroit who admits he used to be in prison and quickly becomes the Goats' new starter. And MaryJo, Sammy's promiscuous sister who joins the BMS cheerleading squad in hopes of someday banging Alex.
- A Party - Also Known as an Orgy: Every single Goathouse party.
- All Gays Are Promiscuous: Mary Jo in Season Three
- Becoming the Mask: In "Piss Test," Sammy decides that because people treat him better as the BMS mascot than as himself, he would wear the costume the whole time. However, near the end of the episode, the costume became so grotesque from overuse that no one wanted to be near him anymore.
- Black and Nerdy: Radon in "Nerds," though he is not actually one himself.
- Break the Haughty: Tad in season three when he is suspended from the team.
- Brother-Sister Incest: Sammy and Mary Jo.
- The Cameo: Bill Romanowski ("The Fingering")
- Brian Bosworth ("Born Again").
- MMA fighter Chuck Lidell and ESPN's Dan Patrick ("Trap Game")
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Denise.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Thad after he received a concussion in Season 3.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Sammy tries to avoid getting a boner in "Midterms" after an incident with a razor, so as karma would have it, the girls start actively teasing him, which only makes the situation worse.
- The majority of the Goats in "Piss Test" initially try this to pass an upcoming drug test instead of the painful-looking "oil change" method that Thad advocates. They can't even last one day.
- The entire team in "Born Again" tries to go celibate under their coach's orders. Unfortunately, the Goats end up destroying a church's volunteer team by playing full-contact in a touch football game for charity.
- Curb Stomp Battle: The Goats are on the receiving end of one of these in the national championship game against Blackwell in season 3, due to the NCAA banning Coach Daniels and most of the team's starters from participating because of rules violations.
- Depraved Bisexual: Denise.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": "The Cougar."
- Fan Service: Read the description again if you need more details.
- Gay Bravado / Armored Closet Gay: Thad, depending on your interpretation.
- Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Occurs of a lot but as of Season Three this seems to be Mary Jo's entire m.o.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Thad.
- Hollywood Nerd: The only ones that appear in the show are Type 1.
- I Have Your Mother: In "Midterms," Alex offers not to spread video of the professor's mother having sex with some members of the football team in exchange for a C grade.
- Intoxication Ensues: Craig in "The Legend of the Golden Arm." After challenging his high-school rival to a sprint to impress Denise, he looks in Thad's room for steroids to give himself an edge and accidentally injects himself with rabies. Not rabies vaccine, but actual rabies!
- Jerkass: You'd have an easier time trying to locate someone on the show that ISN'T one. The only remotely likeable current character is Alex, who while having somewhat of a sleazy vibe, does tend to show he has a heart and common sense on occasion.
- Craig in the first season seems to be the most sensitive member of the team. While everyone else enjoys getting drunk often and having sex with random girls, Craig is usually the one who stays out of trouble and remains loyal to his girlfriend.Until he finds out that Denise was cheating on him.
- Like a Son to Me: The premise of "Ransom," where a creepy obsessive fan tries to offer one of his daughters to Alex in hopes that they'll produce a football-playing grandson because all his children were girls.
- The relationship Thad seems to have with coach Marty. Or at least that's what Thad likes to think.
- Pretty much the way coach Marty relates to the entire team. He doesn't really seem to have anyone else to care for since his son is a selfish jerk.
- Mushroom Samba: "Drug Olympics" and "Vision Quest."
- New Old Flame: Coach's ex-wife Debra.
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Whether it's a NCAA-sanctioned drug test or even simple homework, most of the Goats players will do whatever they can to avoid honest work.
- Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: Denise, after Craig stumbles upon a sex tape she made.
- Opposing Sports Team: Inverted. Though the rival Overland University team wears black and kidnaps their goat as a prank, they seem relatively benign compared to the things the designated protagonists do to their opponents, let alone each other.
- Plot Induced Stupidity: Craig ends up cheating on the drug test by using a large, white, BMS-themed fake penis and a bag of clean piss while the examiner is watching. Despite the fact that the examiner calls him out on it, he passes his test along with the rest of the team.
- Professional Slacker: Alex, to the point where he actually fights to keep his second-string job when he is in danger of becoming the starter ("Rivalry Weekend") or dropping to third-string ("There's Only One Second Best").
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Coach Daniels (to Alex): "Y'know, this is the fire I've been looking for from you! I was hoping it would be for the starting job, but ehhh..." |
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- Alex and Radon both try joining the BMS hockey team to avoid having to take the otherwise mandatory offseason football workout. Unfortunately, their work ethic rubs off on the hockey team, which leads to them having to work even harder just so they can make the hockey team and not start for them at the same time.
- Alex's ultimate goal in life is not to go pro but to become a high school gym teacher like his dad.
- Put on a Bus" Craig in Season Two is Handwaved as having transferred out of BMS, considering the actor playing him was arrested by the DEA for intending to sell large quantities of oxycodone.
- The actor playing Radon Randell won't be appearing in Season Three for similar reasons.
- Reality Ensues: The Rule of Funny only lasts for a certain amount of time, as the team's indiscretions finally catch up with them at the end of season three and the program gets in serious trouble with the NCAA. They are spared the death penalty but Coach Daniels and most of the team's starters are prohibited from playing in the national championship game against Blackwell, who proceeds to curbstomp the depleted Goats team.
- Refuge in Audacity / Refuge in Vulgarity
- Rule of Funny: Let's just say that the real NCAA would not be too happy with BMS' program. The tail end of Season 3 addresses this, as the program does get into trouble with the NCAA.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Thad screams in a higher pitch more suited for a teenage girl than a twentysomething football player.
- Shout-Out: The climactic scene in "Nerds" pays homage to Inglorious Basterds.
- Testosterone Poisoning: Whether this trope is being played painfully straight throughout the show or parodied into oblivion is debatable.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: Sometimes, despite Alex's best efforts to stay off the field, the universe conspires to make him start at QB during crucial games.
- They're Called Personal Issues For A Reason: In "Drunk Tank," some of the team talks about their issues with each other while under the influence.
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Larry: "I once told Thad a secret and he told my dad the next day..." |
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- Took a Level in Badass: Harmon after getting advice from a psychic regarding Thad's constant teasing about his failure as a placekicker.
- Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Coach mentions to Alex in the episode "Bowl Game" in the first season that winning the bowl game would get him one win closer to Jo Paterno's record for most wins by a coach in Division 1 football. At the time of the airing, Joe Pa had not reached the record yet and he had not stopped coaching.
- Wham! Episode: "The Death Penalty." The NCAA *finally* investigates Blue Mountain State and has no shortage of rule violations. BMS does manage to avoid the death penalty but Coach Daniels and most of the starters are banned from the national championship game, which the depleted BMS team loses. By a lot.